For computer users, a few mouse clicks could mean the difference between staying online and losing Internet connections this summer.

Unknown to most of them, their problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of infected computers around the world. In a highly unusual response, the FBI set up a safety net months ago using government computers to prevent Internet disruptions for those infected users. But that system is to be shut down.

The FBI is encouraging users to visit a website run by its security partner, http://www.dcwg.org , that will inform them whether they're infected and explain how to fix the problem. After July 9, infected users won't be able to connect to the Internet.

Most victims don't even know their computers have been infected, although the malicious software probably has slowed their web surfing and disabled their antivirus software, making their machines more vulnerable to other problems.

Last November, the FBI and other authorities were preparing to take down a hacker ring that had been running an Internet ad scam on a massive network of infected computers.

"We started to realize that we might have a little bit of a problem on our hands because ... if we just pulled the plug on their criminal infrastructure and threw everybody in jail, the victims of this were going to be without Internet service," said Tom Grasso, an FBI supervisory special agent. "The average user would open up Internet Explorer and get 'page not found' and think the Internet is broken."

I have Norton 360 running 24x7, and Malwarebytes scans 5x/week, so I’m not letting the gov’t inside my machines to drop cookies/trojans/keyloggers etc to keep an eye on me, thankyouverymuch. And IE is total crap - I use Opera v11.62 on Win7 Pro w/SP3 - so that’s not an option, either.

Which would you entrust your life? To the Government Weather service or a private one you know and trust?

Private weather services have beaten the Government ones for decades; the statistics prove it.

And when government gets things wrong, they get it REALLY REALLY WRONG.

IE: Some Bureaucrat DREAMS up a Test and/or a Solution to a Internet/Computer Virus and DOESN'T TEST IT OUT, DOESN'T THINK OF THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THE TEST and/or SOLUTION (Think Liberal/Progressive or RINO) and/or doesn't Think of a means to BACK IT OUT if it MESSES UP.

With Luck, their solution works. Usually, as with software not well thought out; IT JUST INCREASES PROBLEMS and MAKES MORE FOR THE FUTURE.

And worse than this, PEOPLE START DEPENDING ON THE GOVERNMENT AND NOT THINKING FOR THEMSELVES. So when the GOVERNMENT MISSES a Big Virus who do you blame and how quickly will it be solved - THINK SSLLLOOOOWWWWW!

I went to your recommended site and sniffed around.
It is suspiciously like other commercial frauds that rope you you in, tell you how infected your computer is, and then demand payment immediately to fix it.

I would rather trust my Norton 360 and my Malwarebytes.

12
posted on 04/21/2012 3:15:18 AM PDT
by Rapscallion
(Taxes are taken by governments from profits and pay earned by those who work.)

I don’t run any anti-virus, nor to do I scan my computer on any regular basis(yearly maybe, probably less). I won’t use IE and I do use Admuncher. I don’t run executables off the internet. My networks also run off of OpenDNS and I block .br .cn .in .info .ir .kr .kz .ro .ru .sa TLDs. My computers simply won’t resolve out to 75% of the worlds malware hosts. Sure, they could use IPs in their malware scripts but most use DNS and regularly change the host IP.

I have seen infections so thick on machines that you literally couldn’t do anything but click the “pay me” button and enter a credit card yet Norton Antivirus was sitting there fat and happy like it didn’t have a care in the world.

I don’t want Uncle Sugar in my stuff either. It’s bad enough to know they are always looking at/for us, but to willingly open my computer to them seems nuts. When you agree to let the site act on your computer, you also say “OK” to any bad stuff it has to “offer”.

21
posted on 04/21/2012 4:29:37 AM PDT
by trebb
("If a man will not work, he should not eat" From 2 Thes 3)

If you’re running Windows 7, I’d recommend at minimum running Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 (which is a free download with continuous updates). Security Essentials 2.0 works closely with Windows 7’s own security features and will likely eliminate this known piece of malware.

“In addition to using DPI for the security of their own networks, governments in North America, Europe, and Asia use DPI for various purposes such as surveillance and censorship. Many of these programs are classified.”

IINM, once it’s “in there”, it ain’t coming out “peacefully”. I’ve been using Norton/Symmantec forever and have had no (can’t remember any) problems with intrusions. Now I’m wondering how many it’s let thru quietly to do DPIs.

Just so you know I am not simply an opinionated female. My husand and I run an IT support business for small and medium businesses. I’ve been in IT since the early 80’s, my husband nearly as long. My husband worked his way up through the ranks of IT to become the CIO of an international company. We don’t know everything, no one does, but we do have security certifications and one thing we work very hard at is making sure our customers are as secure as they can be and still conduct business.

Fact one: In the year since Symantec released Endpoint Protection 12.1 and we installed it in all of our customer base we have not had a single infected machine. I have not wasted any of my time or my customers’ money cleaning up machines.

Fact two: There is no technical solution for bad behavior. Most infections are because users override protections. The people who do this kind of thing long ago realized that social engineering was the best way to infect a machine.

for anyone who thinks they might have something nasty that interferes with their anti-virus, there is also housecall.trendmicro.com/ they are reliable, trustworthy and efficient. They also bought ‘hijackthis’ which is a renowned product.

32
posted on 04/21/2012 5:11:41 AM PDT
by KarenMarie
(NEVER believe anything coming out of DC until it's been denied.)

I use MSE and Spybot but never really seem to need them much because I use Firefox with the “No-Script” add-0n. But none of that will stop the Gub’ment if they wish to see what you’ve been looking at and/or download. DPI gives them the ability and since the Gub’ment is intertwined with the ISPs because of the CALEA act its just a matter of a few knob twists that a few bots can be dropped on your system if the Gub’ment wants it done. They don’t need you to click anything at all.

You are not dumb as far as what to put on your computer. But you are not suspicious enough of the government. What do you think? I am guessing there are just about 570,000 computers whose addresses the government wants to collect. Maybe yours is one of them, eh?

True in the past, but everyone agrees that Windows 7 is the best version of Windows since Windows 2000 Professional and have said that Security Essentials 2.0 does work quite well as a means to defend against malware attacks.

Yes, Norton Internet Security is excellent, but it's not cheap: about US$54 per year for a three-use license.

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